Exodus 21:1-11

The Decisions

21:1 ¹ “These are the decisions that you will set before them:

Hebrew Servants

21:2 ² “If you buy ³  a Hebrew servant, ⁴  he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free ⁵  without paying anything. ⁶  21:3 If he came ⁷  in by himself ⁸  he will go out by himself; if he had ⁹  a wife when he came in, then his wife will go out with him. 21:4 If his master gave ¹⁰  him a wife, and she bore sons or daughters, the wife and the children will belong to her master, and he will go out by himself. 21:5 But if the servant should declare, ¹¹  ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out ¹²  free,’ 21:6 then his master must bring him to the judges, ¹³  and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. ¹⁴ 

21:7 “If a man sells his daughter ¹⁵  as a female servant, ¹⁶  she will not go out as the male servants do. 21:8 If she does not please ¹⁷  her master, who has designated her ¹⁸  for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. ¹⁹  He has no right ²⁰  to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully ²¹  with her. 21:9 If he designated her for his son, then he will deal with her according to the customary rights ²²  of daughters. 21:10 If he takes another wife, ²³  he must not diminish the first one’s food, ²⁴  her clothing, or her marital rights. ²⁵  21:11 If he does not provide her with these three things, then she will go out free, without paying money. ²⁶ 

Deuteronomy 5:27-31

5:27 You go near so that you can hear everything the Lord our God is saying and then you can tell us whatever he ²⁷  says to you; then we will pay attention and do it.” 5:28 When the Lord heard you speaking to me, he ²⁸  said to me, “I have heard what these people have said to you – they have spoken well. 5:29 If only it would really be their desire to fear me and obey ²⁹  all my commandments in the future, so that it may go well with them and their descendants forever. 5:30 Go and tell them, ‘Return to your tents!’ 5:31 But as for you, remain here with me so I can declare to you all the commandments, ³⁰  statutes, and ordinances that you are to teach them, so that they can carry them out in the land I am about to give them.” ³¹ 

Deuteronomy 6:1-3

Exhortation to Keep the Covenant Principles

6:1 Now these are the commandments, ³²  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ³³  6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ³⁴  that I am giving ³⁵  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. 6:3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number ³⁶  – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, ³⁷  said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deuteronomy 33:4

33:4 Moses delivered to us a law, ³⁸ 

an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.

Nehemiah 9:13-14

9:13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. 9:14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and law to them through ³⁹  Moses your servant.

John 1:17

1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but ⁴⁰  grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.

[21:1]  ¹ sn There follows now a series of rulings called “the decisions” or “the judgments” (הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים, hammishpatim). A precept is stated, and then various cases in which the law is applicable are examined. These rulings are all in harmony with the Decalogue that has just been given and can be grouped into three categories: civil or criminal laws, religious or cultic laws, and moral or humanitarian laws. The civil and criminal laws make up most of chap. 21; the next two chapters mix the other kinds of laws. Among the many studies of this section of the book are F. C. Fensham, “The Role of the Lord in the Legal Sections of the Covenant Code,” VT 26 (1976): 262-74; S. Paul, “Unrecognized Biblical Legal Idioms in Light of Comparative Akkadian Expressions,” RB 86 (1979): 231-39; M. Galston, “The Purpose of the Law According to Maimonides,” JQR 69 (1978): 27-51.

[21:2]  ² sn See H. L. Elleson, “The Hebrew Slave: A Study in Early Israelite Society,” EvQ 45 (1973): 30-35; N. P. Lemche, “The Manumission of Slaves – The Fallow Year – The Sabbatical Year – The Jobel Year,” VT 26 (1976): 38-59, and “The ‘Hebrew Slave,’ Comments on the Slave Law – Ex. 21:2-11,” VT 25 (1975): 129-44.

[21:2]  ³ tn The verbs in both the conditional clause and the following ruling are imperfect tense: “If you buy…then he will serve.” The second imperfect tense (the ruling) could be taken either as a specific future or an obligatory imperfect. Gesenius explains how the verb works in the conditional clauses here (see GKC 497 §159.bb).

[21:2]  ⁴ sn The interpretation of “Hebrew” in this verse is uncertain: (l) a gentilic ending, (2) a fellow Israelite, (3) or a class of mercenaries of the population (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:431). It seems likely that the term describes someone born a Hebrew, as opposed to a foreigner (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 210). The literature on this includes: M. P. Gray, “The Habiru-Hebrew Problem,” HUCA 29 (1958): 135-202.

[21:2]  ⁵ sn The word חָפְשִׁי (khofshi) means “free.” It is possible that there is some connection between this word and a technical term used in other cultures for a social class of emancipated slaves who were freemen again (see I. Mendelsohn, “New Light on the Hupsu,” BASOR 139 [1955]: 9-11).

[21:2]  ⁶ tn The adverb חִנָּם (hinnam) means “gratis, free”; it is related to the verb “to be gracious, show favor” and the noun “grace.”

[21:3]  ⁷ tn The tense is imperfect, but in the conditional clause it clearly refers to action that is anterior to the action in the next clause. Heb “if he comes in single, he goes out single,” that is, “if he came in single, he will go out single.”

[21:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “with his back” meaning “alone.”

[21:3]  ⁹ tn The phrase says, “if he was the possessor of a wife”; the noun בַּעַל (ba’al) can mean “possessor” or “husband.” If there was a wife, she shared his fortunes or his servitude; if he entered with her, she would accompany him when he left.

[21:4]  ¹⁰ sn The slave would not have the right or the means to acquire a wife. Thus, the idea of the master’s “giving” him a wife is clear – the master would have to pay the bride price and make the provision. In this case, the wife and the children are actually the possession of the master unless the slave were to pay the bride price – but he is a slave because he got into debt. The law assumes that the master was better able to provide for this woman than the freed slave and that it was most important to keep the children with the mother.

[21:5]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect with the infinitive absolute means that the declaration is unambiguous, that the servant will clearly affirm that he wants to stay with the master. Gesenius says that in a case like this the infinitive emphasizes the importance of the condition on which some consequence depends (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[21:5]  ¹² tn Or taken as a desiderative imperfect, it would say, “I do not want to go out free.”

[21:6]  ¹³ tn The word is הָאֱלֹהִים (ha’elohim). S. R. Driver (Exodus, 211) says the phrase means “to God,” namely the nearest sanctuary in order that the oath and the ritual might be made solemn, although he does say that it would be done by human judges. That the reference is to Yahweh God is the view also of F. C. Fensham, “New Light on Exodus 21:7 and 22:7 from the Laws of Eshnunna,” JBL 78 (1959): 160-61. Cf. also ASV, NAB, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT. Others have made a stronger case that it refers to judges who acted on behalf of God; see C. Gordon, “אלהים in its Reputed Meaning of Rulers, Judges,” JBL 54 (1935): 134-44; and A. E. Draffkorn, “Ilani/Elohim,” JBL 76 (1957): 216-24; cf. KJV, NIV.

[21:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “till his life’s end” (as in the idiom: “serve him for good”).

[21:7]  ¹⁵ sn This paragraph is troubling to modern readers, but given the way that marriages were contracted and the way people lived in the ancient world, it was a good provision for people who might want to find a better life for their daughter. On the subject in general for this chapter, see W. M. Swartley, Slavery, Sabbath, War, and Women, 31-64.

[21:7]  ¹⁶ tn The word אָמָה (’amah) refers to a female servant who would eventually become a concubine or wife; the sale price included the amount for the service as well as the bride price (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 621). The arrangement recognized her honor as an Israelite woman, one who could be a wife, even though she entered the household in service. The marriage was not automatic, as the conditions show, but her treatment was safeguarded come what may. The law was a way, then, for a poor man to provide a better life for a daughter.

[21:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and if unpleasant (רָעָה, ra’ah) in the eyes of her master.”

[21:8]  ¹⁸ tn The verb יָעַד (ya’ad) does not mean “betroth, espouse” as some of the earlier translations had it, but “to designate.” When he bought the girl, he designated her for himself, giving her and her family certain expectations.

[21:8]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is a Hiphil perfect with vav (ו) consecutive from פָדָה (padah, “to redeem”). Here in the apodosis the form is equivalent to an imperfect: “let someone redeem her” – perhaps her father if he can, or another. U. Cassuto says it can also mean she can redeem herself and dissolve the relationship (Exodus, 268).

[21:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he has no authority/power,” for the verb means “rule, have dominion.”

[21:8]  ²¹ sn The deceit is in not making her his wife or concubine as the arrangement had stipulated.

[21:9]  ²² tn Or “after the manner of” (KJV, ASV); NRSV “shall deal with her as with a daughter.”

[21:10]  ²³ tn “wife” has been supplied.

[21:10]  ²⁴ tn The translation of “food” does not quite do justice to the Hebrew word. It is “flesh.” The issue here is that the family she was to marry into is wealthy, they ate meat. She was not just to be given the basic food the ordinary people ate, but the fine foods that this family ate.

[21:10]  ²⁵ sn See S. Paul, “Exodus 21:10, A Threefold Maintenance Clause,” JNES 28 (1969): 48-53. Paul suggests that the third element listed is not marital rights but ointments since Sumerian and Akkadian texts list food, clothing, and oil as the necessities of life. The translation of “marital rights” is far from certain, since the word occurs only here. The point is that the woman was to be cared for with all that was required for a woman in that situation.

[21:11]  ²⁶ sn The lessons of slavery and service are designed to bring justice to existing customs in antiquity. The message is: Those in slavery for one reason or another should have the hope of freedom and the choice of service (vv. 2-6). For the rulings on the daughter, the message could be: Women, who were often at the mercy of their husbands or masters, must not be trapped in an unfortunate situation, but be treated well by their masters or husbands (vv. 7-11). God is preventing people who have power over others from abusing it.

[5:27]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the Lord our God.” See note on “He” in 5:3.

[5:28]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “He” in 5:3.

[5:29]  ²⁹ tn Heb “keep” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:31]  ³⁰ tn Heb “commandment.” The MT actually has the singular (הַמִּצְוָה, hammitsvah), suggesting perhaps that the following terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) are in epexegetical apposition to “commandment.” That is, the phrase could be translated “the entire command, namely, the statutes and ordinances.” This would essentially make מִצְוָה (mitsvah) synonymous with תּוֹרָה (torah), the usual term for the whole collection of law.

[5:31]  ³¹ tn Heb “to possess it” (so KJV, ASV); NLT “as their inheritance.”

[6:1]  ³² tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.

[6:1]  ³³ tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”

[6:2]  ³⁴ tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.

[6:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[6:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “may multiply greatly” (so NASB, NRSV); the words “in number” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 10, 18, 23).

[33:4]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) here should be understood more broadly as instruction.

[9:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[1:17]  ⁴⁰ tn “But” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the implied contrast between the Mosaic law and grace through Jesus Christ. John 1:17 seems to indicate clearly that the Old Covenant (Sinai) was being contrasted with the New. In Jewish sources the Law was regarded as a gift from God (Josephus, Ant. 3.8.10 [3.223]; Pirqe Avot 1.1; Sifre Deut 31:4 §305). Further information can be found in T. F. Glasson, Moses in the Fourth Gospel (SBT).